The paper "The Indian National Initiative for Advanced Biomass Cookstoves: The benefits of clean combustion" is the result of a collaboration of authors from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi and the University of California, Berkeley, USA.
The paper notes that the initiative has set itself the aim of providing energy service comparable to clean sources such as LPG but using the same solid biomass fuels commonly used today. According to the authors, "to meet the requirements of true “LPG-like” combustion, even greater emissions reductions will be needed than now achieved by available technologies... Nevertheless, current advanced biomass stoves represent major improvement over those deployed in past improved stove programs...These technology development and deployment challenges are not trivial but we believe also not insurmountable, especially if we build on the lessons from the broad arena of technology innovation as well as recent initiatives in the cookstoves arena by corporate organizations, foundations, and NGOs."
Such a clean energy option for the estimated 160 million Indian households now cooking with inefficient and polluting biomass and coal cook stoves could yield enormous gains in health and welfare for the weakest and most vulnerable sections of society. At the same time, cleaner household cooking energy through substitution by advanced-combustion biomass stoves (or other options such as clean fuels) can nearly eliminate the several important products of incomplete combustion that come from today’s practices and are important outdoor and greenhouse pollutants.
Using national surveys, published literature and assessments, and measurements of cook stove performance solely from India, the reports estimates that 570,000 premature deaths in poor women and children and over 4% of India’s greenhouse emissions could be avoided if such an initiative were in place today. These avoided emissions currently would be worth more than US$1 billion on the international carbon market. In addition, about one-third of India’s black carbon emissions can be reduced along with a range of other health- and climate-active pollutants that affect regional air quality and climate.
The complete article can be read at Venkataraman C, et al, The Indian National Initiative for Advanced Biomass Cookstoves: The benefits of clean combustion, Energy for Sustainable Development (2010)
